Preloader employing enhanced messages

• US 8,745,507 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walton, Denis Brent
• Primary Examiner(s): HAILU, TADESSE
• Application Number:
  US11/948,354
• Publication Number:
  US 20090144396A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,377 Days
• Field of Search: 715/740, 715/748, 715/749, 705/14.4, 705/14.5, 705/14.66, 705/14.67, 705/14.68
• US Class Current: 715/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Abstract

A disclosed method of serving web page requests includes detecting a client request for a web page that contains an object. A preloader application is invoked to execute while the object is downloading to the client. The preloader application displays a preloader message during at least part of the downloading interval. At least a part of the preloader message is an advertisement or is otherwise unrelated to a progress of the downloading of the object. A size of the object may exceed a specified threshold and/or a type of the object may match any of a set of predetermined object types. The set of predetermined object types may include a Java® object type, a Flash® object type, or another object type suitable for implementing motion graphics. In some embodiments, the preloader application resides on a third party web site.

Claims

1. A method of processing web page requests, the method comprising:

responsive to detecting, by a web server, a client request for a web page containing a preloadable object, initiating serving the web page and downloading the object to the client;

estimating a download interval for the object wherein the download interval indicates a time interval required to complete the downloading of the object;

before the serving of the web page completes, invoking a preloader application to perform operations including;

selecting a preloader message from a set of available messages based at least in part on;

an estimate of a time required to serve the web page to the client in response to the client request;

demographic information associated with the client;

subject matter with which the requested web page is concerned;

a time of day; and

a day of the week; and

displaying the preloader message with an indication of a progress of the downloading of the object wherein at least a part of the preloader message is unrelated to a progress state of the downloading of the object;

monitoring for completion of the downloading; and

responsive to detecting completion of the preloader message prior to completion of the downloading, selecting and displaying an additional message; and

responsive to detecting completion of the downloading prior to completion of the preloader message, terminating the displaying of the preloader message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the invoking of the preloader application occurs in response to a size of the object exceeding a specified threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a type of the object is a type suitable for implementing motion graphics.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the part of the preloader message unrelated to the progress of the serving of the web page includes an advertisement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the invoking of the preloader application includes requesting, by the web server, a third party server to invoke the preloader application.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the invoking of the preloader application includes the web server indicating a universal resource locator of the third party server.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the advertisement includes an advertisement of a fourth party.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the preloader application displays a plurality of preloader messages to the client before the serving of the web page completes.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

responsive to detecting, by a web server, a client request for a web page containing a preloadable object, initiating serving the web page and downloading the object to the client;

estimating a download interval for the object wherein the download interval indicates a time interval required to complete the downloading of the object;

before the serving of the web page completes, invoking a preloader application to perform operations including;

selecting a preloader message from a set of available messages based at least in part on;

an estimate of a time required to serve the web page to the client in response to the client request;

demographic information associated with the client;

subject matter with which the requested web page is concerned;

a time of day; and

a day of the week; and

displaying the preloader message with an indication of a progress of the downloading of the object wherein at least a part of the preloader message is unrelated to a progress state of the downloading of the object;

monitoring for completion of the downloading;

responsive to detecting completion of the preloader message prior to completion of the downloading, selecting and displaying an additional message; and

responsive to detecting completion of the downloading prior to completion of the preloader message, terminating the displaying of the preloader message.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the invoking of the preloader application occurs in response to a size of the object exceeding a specified threshold.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein a type of the object is a type suitable for implementing motion graphics.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the part of the preloader message unrelated to the progress of the serving of the web page includes an advertisement.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the invoking of the preloader application includes requesting, by the web server, a third party server to invoke the preloader application.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the invoking of the preloader application includes the web server indicating a universal resource locator of the third party server and wherein the advertisement includes an advertisement of a fourth party.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the preloader application displays a plurality of preloader messages to the client before the serving of the web page completes.

16. A preloader server, comprising:

a processor;

a storage medium, accessible to the processor, including processor executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

responsive to detecting, by a web server, a client request for a web page containing a preloadable object, initiating serving the web page and downloading the object to the client;

estimating a download interval for the object wherein the download interval indicates a time interval required to complete the downloading of the object;

before the serving of the web page completes, invoking a preloader application to perform operations including;

selecting a preloader message from a set of available messages based at least in part on;

an estimate of a time required to serve the web page to the client in response to the client request;

demographic information associated with the client;

subject matter with which the requested web page is concerned;

a time of day; and

a day of the week; and

displaying the preloader message with an indication of a progress of the downloading of the object wherein at least a part of the preloader message is unrelated to a progress state of the downloading of the object;

monitoring for completion of the downloading;

responsive to detecting completion of the preloader message prior to completion of the downloading, selecting and displaying an additional message; and

responsive to detecting completion of the downloading prior to completion of the preloader message, terminating the displaying of the preloader message.

17. The preloader server of claim 16, wherein the preloader message comprises an advertisement.

18. The preloader server of claim 16, wherein the preloader message includes a first message and wherein the operations include:

after completion of the first message, selecting a second message based at least in part on an estimate of time remaining to download the object.